Songwriter Advisor Blog

We, as human beings, either consciously or subconsciously tend to fall into routines in pretty much every aspect of our lives because we like staying in our “comfort zones,” and we feel more safe and secure with things that are familiar to us. 

Songwriters are no exception to this rule, especially when they find they’ve written a few solid songs using the same “routine” and “formula,” so to speak.  In songwriting, it is sometimes hard to break free from a proven method of songwriting,  and some songwriters resist change by sticking to “their style of songwriting,” while declaring, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

So consequently, as an example, some songwriters stay focused on the classic song forms of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus, in pop and country music , or verse-chorus-verse-chorus-rap-chorus in r&b with little or no variation.  After a while, songs start to sound the same and you not only risk losing your listeners, but you also run the risk of having music industry people think you’re one-dimensional.

It’s not that difficult to add some variety in your songs and give them a definite boost if you know where to inject them with song form variations.  That’s right!  All you have to do is start experimenting with song forms.  This is the easiest way to lend variety to your future collection of original songs.   

If you find yourself in these songwriting shoes and you want to break free from the “all too familiar” type of song, try using the following song forms to help your songs be more original and stand out in a crowd:

1.  Instead of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus (ABABCB) format, use:

For rock, pop, r&b, and country music

verse-verse-chorus-verse-instrumental-chorus-verse-chorus
verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus
chorus-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus
chorus-verse-chorus-verse-instr-bridge-chorus
verse-chorus-instr-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus
verse-prechorus-chorus-verse-chorus-instr-prechorus-chorus

also:

try using the rarely-used verse-verse-chorus-verse (AABA) format, and variations such as:

verse-verse-bridge-instr-verse-bridge-verse
bridge-verse-verse-bridge-verse-new section-instr-verse

This list can go on and on–there’s no limit, and this works well for many other genres!
Try making a 2nd verse only half of a verse, or a 2nd chorus a half-chorus—You get the idea! Cut a song section in half and go into an instrumental part.
Don’t always settle for what’s expected. Sometimes rearranging a song’s form can bring out the life you never expected in that song. Big-time music producers routinely and instinctively rearrange song forms to make songs more powerful because oftentimes they’re presented with twelve songs that basically have the same song forms. Why not take care of all that work by yourself by being original in the first place?

These days, to stay competitive and original, songwriters are thinking outside the box far more often than just a few short years ago. Don’t get left in the dust! Always look for new ways to add spice and originality in your songs even if it means rearranging your song form in a small way to add that extra “ooomph,” and you can’t go wrong. Yes, human beings love familiarity, but didn’t someone say once that, “Variety is the spice of life?”

The following entry was written 1 year ago.

Happy Fathers’ Day to all you fathers out there!  This is a special Fathers’ day for me personally, not only because of the my three precious children, but because I want to finally tell my father how much of an inspiration he has been to me my whole life.

My dad and mom emigrated from Cuba to the U.S. in the  early sixties wanting a better life for his family.  My dad had the guts to leave much of his family behind, knowing and sacrificing heartache for the promise of an actual future.   And right he was, for look at Cuba from the mid sixties to the present, and you’ll see one of the most horrifying countries in existence where there is no room for growth as a human being or civilization at all.

Dad is already 78, and he uses a respirator, partly thanks to all the smoking he did as a youngster (it was the “cool” thing to do back then) to his late fifties until he had his first heart attack at the age of 57.   He has given my two brothers and I not only a wonderful childhood, but the greatest chance in succeeding at life that any parent can give to their children, and there really aren’t enough favorable adjectives in Webster’s Dictionary to properly describe him.

So here goes:  Dad, you are my greatest hero.  While I write this my tears of gratitude are actually falling on the spacebar of my laptop.  Without your love and strong guidance I would not have been able to achieve the many goals I have realized thus far.  You and Mom have given all of us such a wonderful chance of having a beautiful life, and through the good and the bad, the one thing that remains a constant, is the love and respect you instilled in us to continually become the greatest human beings possible. 

I hear people tell me all the time–Orlando, you’re too much of a nice guy, and I immediately think of you with pride, because I TAKE AFTER YOU!  Being too much of a nice guy is not so bad if it means I’m like you, Dad.  To me, that’s the greatest compliment anyone can ever give me.  Happy Fathers’ Day, Papi!